Fishes. 1611 



rock fish, has a particular or specific habit. I once told a boy I 

 wished to get a red Conner, and he took me to a spot where we 

 could take but little else, in the course of half an hour we caught 

 twenty-two, and might have taken more, if we had regained longer. 

 They prefer from ten to twenty fathoms of water, with a rough 

 ground or rocks standing out of a sandy soil. 



Rainbow Wrasse, lulls lulls. Rare. The late Mr. E. Chergwin 

 told me that one had been caught in Mount's Bay. 



Corkwing Corker, Crenllabrus Cornublcus. This is one of the 

 most abundant of the wrasses, as well as one of the smallest. It fre- 

 quents the windings of rocks close to the shore, among sea-weed. 

 They are not gregarious, for though a great number will frequent one 

 spot, yet each seems to move about independent of the others. It 

 takes a bait readily, and affords excellent sport to the boys fishing 

 from the rocks. They will follow a bait to the water's edge, and I 

 have known them so abundant that they have been taken as fast as 

 the boys could prepare the line for them. They breed in April and 

 May, and in June, July and August, the young, of a bright green co- 

 lour, may be taken in pools with a shrimp-net, from a quarter of an 

 inch to two inches in length. In the young state they are more slen- 

 der than in the adult. As age increases they grow deeper, and the 

 black spot anterior to the caudal fin disappears. I have not Mr. 

 Yarrell's second edition of his ' British Fishes ' to which I can refer, 

 but in the first he says, " this fish rarely takes a bail," an observation 

 which ought to be transferred to another species, C. tinea. 



Goldsinny, C. tinea. Frequently taken in the pilchard-seine. 



Iago's Goldsinny, C. rupestrls. Not uncommon in various parts of 

 the bay. It may be always distinguished from the corkwing by the 

 position of the black spot on the tail, which is on the upper edge 

 when the body joins the fin. As the fish grows the spot becomes 

 paler and smaller, but is never, I believe, obliterated. 



Corkling, C. multldentatus. Not very rare, about Lamorna, near 

 the Land's End. 



Rock Cook, C. microstoma. Common, in deep water, but as it 

 never takes a bait, it is rarely seen. It frequents rough and stony 

 ground, where it feeds on minute Crustacea and dead animal matter. 

 It is most frequently caught in the crab-pots, and several are taken 

 every morning by the men engaged in the crab fishery. It gets into 

 the pots after the baits, which it lays hold of by its very small mouth, 

 and tears it away bit by bit, or sucks it off till satiated. 



Scale-rayed Wrasse, C. Luscus. Rare. Caught near Mousehole 



